


in another vein

by Wildcard



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Black Ribboner recruitment, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen, pre-Monstrous Regiment, purimgifts, the League of Temperance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29609439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/pseuds/Wildcard
Summary: Maladicta, fresh from a visit to the de Magpyr family, visits Lady Marglotta. She's heard two ideas of what the future looks like for vampires; Lady Marglotta offers her a third option.
Relationships: Lady Marglotta & Maladicta
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Purimgifts 2021





	in another vein

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



> _"You don't understand! This is about ... craving. You never_ stop craving, you just switch it to something that doesn't cause people to turn you into a short kebab! I need _coffee!"_
> 
> When we meet Maladicta, she's already been blood-free for two years. What prompted her decision to join the Black Ribboners?

“Count de Magpyr said some of the same things you did, Lady Marglotta. He also insisted that vampires must evolve.” Maladicta’s tone was neutral, her hands folded in her lap, but her eyes were stake-sharp .   
  
“But he believed that vampires must evolve in order to continue ruling.I believe vampires must evolve in order to coexist with other species. If we insist on being the dominant species, they will rise against us.” Pensively, she judged, “He was a very stupid man. Caught in the past, as so many vampires are, and unwilling to leave it. All those theories of his were not to bring vampires to the present but to make the present into the past he thought so glorious.” 

“Two paths but the same starting point,” Maladicta said, forking her index and middle finger into a V. “You make his arguments for different reasons.”   
  
A pause, then she admitted, “He was never convincing. You are.”   
  
“Wonderful. Then shall we choose a new craving for you?” Lady Marglotta adjusted her pearls and smiled; unlike Lacrimosa, she flashed her fangs when she smiled, sharp slices of white as incisive as her eyes. “ Art, perhaps. You can always find something to draw with and humans are used to artists being a little eccentric. A fever of constant creation will raise no eyebrows.”   
  
Maladicta wrinkled her nose. “I’m not good at art. Nor music.”   
  
“Perhaps something easier then. I’ve been told that the transition is smoother if you choose something like smoking or lollipops.” In other words, something that would allow Maladicta to keep sucking at things, even if it wasn’t blood she was drinking.

“No.” Chin tilting up, Maladicta said confidently, “I don’t need it to be _easy_. I don’t want the humans to look at me and think I’m only a second away from sucking their blood.”

“You are so very young, my dear,” Lady Marglotta murmured. “So young and so proud.”  
  
She smiled again. “I do wonder what sort of future you will create.” 


End file.
